The total of 52 mergers and acquisitions for the first half of 2026 reflects what analysts, industry watchers and executives are saying over and over: M&A is back.
Nine deals from Eli Lilly. Three apiece for GSK and Gilead Sciences. It’s safe to say that pharma is back in the game with a busy half that saw more than 50 total M&A transactions.
The most acquisitive, Lilly pledged more than $25 billion in the first half, while Gilead commited $14.8 billion and GSK offered up $13.5 billion.
Sun Pharma clocked the largest deal of the half with its $12.6 billion buy of women’s health company Organon. AbbVie had the second largest deal with the $10.7 billion buyout of inflammation-focused biotech Apogee Therapeutics.
In the first half of 2025, there were around 30 total mergers and acquisitions recorded by BioSpace. The total of 52 for the same period in 2026 represents an uptick that analysts, industry watchers and executives are citing as evidence that M&A is back.
And the return of these deals has sent a ripple across the industry. More IPOs are being filed and more up-and-coming biotechs are announcing early-stage fundraising rounds to move their science forward.
Merck landed one of biotech’s most talked about buyout targets in March, paying $6.9 billion for Terns Pharmaceuticals. BMO Capital Markets lauded the buyout as “one of the best deals [Merck] has made since its spree began ahead of the Keytruda” loss of exclusivity.
Besides the pharma heavyhitters, the list of transactions was studded by intriguing deals from smaller companies. UCB, for instance, struck twice, buying Candid Therapeutics for $2.2 billion and Neurona Therapeutics for $1.2 billion. Prior to those deals, UCB had not acquired another company since 2020, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Forever a highlight of BioSpace’s quarterly M&A wrap, biotech clean-up artist Kevin Tang struck again in March after taking the helm of Aurinia Pharma. He previously missed out on buying Kezar Life Sciences in October 2024 via his portfolio company Concentra Biosciences,but he now owns Kezar, by way of Aurinia, which paid about $53.9 million.
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